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A few a ideas for wind breaks in your garden.

At 12:08 PM 10/25/97 -0400, Sherry Young <Sherry@NEWWW.COM> wrote:
.
>
>My biggest problem is that I have a sort of wind tunnel in part of my
>garden. I have tried making tunnels with hoops and the garden quilting
>but the hoops bend in the wind, quilt gets torn off. Does anyone have
>any suggestions? For my next trick I'm thinking I'll try PVC piping and
>will nail some anchors to the beds themselves. But how do I get the
>quilting or plastic onto the piping so the wind doesn't tear it off? I'd
>like to be able to roll up the sides in warm weather. Any ideas anybody?
>
>Sherry

I'm not positive that I _fully_ envision your problem but I've had occasion
to 'play' with the wind as a designer of various assemblies.

Farm or construction supply outlets sell a plastic 'fencing' which comes in
50 foot rolls and various widths. This material has 'holes' of various
shapes, depending upon the manufacturer. The material is used around
construction sites.

If you used your pvc piping as vertical supports, bury 12-18 inches in a
post-hole dug hole, and attached the construction fencing to the verticals
you will create a very effective wind break.

The plastics material acts very much like a standard wooden slat snow fence
that I'm sure you have miles of up there. :)

To have the material work as you need it to it's important to realize, also,
that the 'backside' or leeward side of the fence will have a lower pressure
and 'things' will accumulate...as snow does...on the downwind side. If you
situate the fencing upwind of the prevailing wind...or in your wind tunnel,
as you say, you can cut down considerably on wind effects.

Here is a bird's eye view ASCII drawing of same:


                     pvc pipe & fencing
0
                                    /
   prevailing                      /
   wind direction-->              /     |---------------|
                                 /      |               |
                                0   LP  |  Your beds... |
                                 \      |---------------|
                                  \
                                   \
                                    \
                                     0  The fence angle can be less than shown
                                        [a lesser angle might work better]

The fencing can be attached about every 12-18 inches vertically along the
PVC pipe using nylon twine or, better, if you want to spend a bit more money
but make the job go much faster, plastic snap-ties which are used to bundle
wires.

The LP means the area in which you will have a lower pressure. The distance
between your 'fencing' and the beds will determined by your garden layout
but consider that the effect of the fence disturbs downwind air roughly 5
times the height of the fence.

For what it's worth, I built a 4 foot high fence around by daughter's
trampoline using PVC pipe tied to the six vertical legs. The fencing worked
wonders at keeping the kids from falling off no matter how rambunctious they
became. The local kids play a kickball game they invented using a soccer
ball. The 'safety fence' has been up for two years and is beginning to show
some wear from kids bouncing of the fence wall. Your fencing won't take that
kind of abuse and should last at least five years.

Your PVC pipe could be two different sizes with a slightly larger diameter
pipe below ground level--so you don't trip over it--and the above pipe
nested inside. That way you can remove the fencing, roll it up for storage,
and remove the above ground pipe also until next year. Don't leave the
fencing out all year. The ultraviolet component in sunlight destroys certain
plastics. Go to the trouble to roll it up for the winter.

Hope this helps.

If I haven't made the whole issue overly complicated let me know and I'll be
glad to try it again. :)

bernie///
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